The Run Down On Traffic Fines

So to speak

BY: REX EASLY

There are 135 “opportunities” for you to get a ticket from the municipal police in Los Cabos. So you thought you escaped all that nonsense when you left the States and came down to lawless Mexico home of no worries? Nope. In fact most of these fines are similar to the ones in the United States.

Each fine is assigned a number which represents the multiplier of the minimum wage, calculating your fine. Minimum salary per day is $73 pesos or about $4.56 USD. Yes, that’s per day, not per hour. To calculate the fine you multiply the assigned number x $4.56 dollars to get the grand total. We calculated the fines here for you math retards at a 16 to 1 exchange rate. So here is a breakdown of some of the traffic fines in US dollars.

The least expensive fines start at $13.68 for turning without signaling, and not wearing a seat belt. (Fine is for each scofflaw in the car).

Next, driving with bright lights on in the city, driving the wrong way on a one way, driving a motorcycle without a helmet, emitting excessive emissions, (does Mexico City know about this law?) and parking in a prohibited area, such as taxi areas, green and red painted curbs, parking against traffic, and parking less than eight meters from fire hydrants cost $22.80. Do we even have fire hydrants? If we do, it’s certain there is no water in them. That’s why you see the tanker trucks charging after fire trucks. These “pumpers” don’t pump from fire hydrants, they pump from tanker trucks.

Driving without a license costs $36.48 dollars while driving with expired plates, throwing trash out the window, (includes beer cans), refusing to obey officer instructions, not stopping for a pedestrian or emergency vehicle, and the biggy we all commit, driving while talking on a cell phone cost $45.60.

Driving without plates, speeding, and running from the police cost $91.02. Abandoning victims in an accident costs $228 while unauthorized use of a public vehicle costs $296.04. The most costly of all the infractions is parking in a designated handicap space or ramp at a cost of $456 US big ones. Yikes!

If you left the States thinking you can drink and drive here, think again. The police now give breathalyzer tests here too. A person is considered intoxicated at .050 milligrams of ethanol per millimeter of blood (mg/ml). Police are allowed to stop motorists and ask them to take a breath test (alcoholímetro) if they have reason to believe that the driver is over the limit. Lately they have been setting up road blocks to test for boozers, mostly on weekend nights.

There are 3 fines for driving while intoxicated. The first is $91.20, the second is $182.04, and the third is $364.08. Most people are arrested on the weekend for drunk driving. If another passenger in the car is sober, he may drive the vehicle home. If not, the car is impounded.

If you arrive at your car, and the license plates are missing, don’t panic. Well, panic is sort of called for, you’ve been caught in a no no. There will be a ticket on your windshield. The police remove your license plates in order to assure that you show up to pay the fine. However, it isn’t very effective. At times, it seems like there are more cars here driving around without their plates than with. Part of the reason for that is the state has been out of aluminum for quite a while now. New cars get a silly little paper license plate.

Where do you pay the fine? All fines are paid in cash at the transito office located on the road to Todos Santos, on the right side of the road. To avoid long lines and a major hassle, don’t go on Monday to pay your ticket. Monday is mayhem day, due the number of incidents that occur on the weekend, and these people move at glacial speed even on a good day.

One more thing: If you get a moving violation, expect to surrender your drivers license. It’s scary to newbies, but really it’s no big deal. These people don’t want your license, there is nothing they can do with it, they are just impounding it to ensure you show up to pay your fine.

If you’re paying a city fine, thank your lucky starts you weren’t picked up on the fourlane or at the airport. Those are our only federal jurisdiction and the fines are way, way, astronimcally higher. How high? We’ve published them twice now, pay attention! ,

There are 135 “opportunities” for you to get a ticket from the municipal police in Los Cabos. So you thought you escaped all that nonsense when you left the States and came down to lawless Mexico home of no worries? Nope. In fact most of these fines are similar to the ones in the United States.

Each fine is assigned a number which represents the multiplier of the minimum wage, calculating your fine. Minimum salary per day is $73 pesos or about $4.56 USD. Yes, that’s per day, not per hour. To calculate the fine you multiply the assigned number x $4.56 dollars to get the grand total. We calculated the fines here for you math retards at a 16 to 1 exchange rate. So here is a breakdown of some of the traffic fines in US dollars.

The least expensive fines start at $13.68 for turning without signaling, and not wearing a seat belt. (Fine is for each scofflaw in the car).

Next, driving with bright lights on in the city, driving the wrong way on a one way, driving a motorcycle without a helmet, emitting excessive emissions, (does Mexico City know about this law?) and parking in a prohibited area, such as taxi areas, green and red painted curbs, parking against traffic, and parking less than eight meters from fire hydrants cost $22.80. Do we even have fire hydrants? If we do, it’s certain there is no water in them. That’s why you see the tanker trucks charging after fire trucks. These “pumpers” don’t pump from fire hydrants, they pump from tanker trucks.

Driving without a license costs $36.48 dollars while driving with expired plates, throwing trash out the window, (includes beer cans), refusing to obey officer instructions, not stopping for a pedestrian or emergency vehicle, and the biggy we all commit, driving while talking on a cell phone cost $45.60.

Driving without plates, speeding, and running from the police cost $91.02. Abandoning victims in an accident costs $228 while unauthorized use of a public vehicle costs $296.04. The most costly of all the infractions is parking in a designated handicap space or ramp at a cost of $456 US big ones. Yikes!

If you left the States thinking you can drink and drive here, think again. The police now give breathalyzer tests here too. A person is considered intoxicated at .050 milligrams of ethanol per millimeter of blood (mg/ml). Police are allowed to stop motorists and ask them to take a breath test (alcoholímetro) if they have reason to believe that the driver is over the limit. Lately they have been setting up road blocks to test for boozers, mostly on weekend nights.

There are 3 fines for driving while intoxicated. The first is $91.20, the second is $182.04, and the third is $364.08. Most people are arrested on the weekend for drunk driving. If another passenger in the car is sober, he may drive the vehicle home. If not, the car is impounded.

If you arrive at your car, and the license plates are missing, don’t panic. Well, panic is sort of called for, you’ve been caught in a no no. There will be a ticket on your windshield. The police remove your license plates in order to assure that you show up to pay the fine. However, it isn’t very effective. At times, it seems like there are more cars here driving around without their plates than with. Part of the reason for that is the state has been out of aluminum for quite a while now. New cars get a silly little paper license plate.

Where do you pay the fine? All fines are paid in cash at the transito office located on the road to Todos Santos, on the right side of the road. To avoid long lines and a major hassle, don’t go on Monday to pay your ticket. Monday is mayhem day, due the number of incidents that occur on the weekend, and these people move at glacial speed even on a good day.

One more thing: If you get a moving violation, expect to surrender your drivers license. It’s scary to newbies, but really it’s no big deal. These people don’t want your license, there is nothing they can do with it, they are just impounding it to ensure you show up to pay your fine.

If you’re paying a city fine, thank your lucky starts you weren’t picked up on the fourlane or at the airport. Those are our only federal jurisdiction and the fines are way, way, astronimcally higher. How high? We’ve published them twice now, pay attention!

Here’s Who’s Passing Out The Fines

Mexican police have been judged among the worst in the world, worse even than African countries, reported the World Internal Security and Police Index 2016.

According to the report, the diagnosis prepared by the International Association of Police Sciences, placed Mexico in 118th place of the 127 countries evaluated for capacity, processes, legitimacy and results of security institutions. The rating Mexico received places it below countries like Sierra Leone, Zambia, Liberia, Tanzania, Guinea, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Mexico is rated higher than only nine countries, such as Venezuela, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Pakistan, Uganda and Nigeria.

The worst evaluation for Mexican police was in the area of legitimacy, and it is ranked 125th of the 127 countries evaluated, the two lower countries were Congo and Pakistan. The countries with the best evaluations in the study were Singapore, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Germany and Australia. The study measures legitimacy according to indicators of due process and confidence levels. “Legitimacy is a way to understand how the public views security providers, especially the police, from a favorable point of view,” said the report.

According to the index, Mexico has doubled it police forces in the last 30 years, but even so it is placed in the lowest levels for performance and effectiveness. ,